HOW TO IDENTIFY YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE IN DETAILS

September 20, 2017

All of us, no matter who we are and where we are in our career or business, have some kind of question around leadership.

Ranging from what is the best way to keep our employees motivated? How can one lead oneself and be a responsible leader on the home front? What does it mean to make a difference and have an impact? What is the best way to hold my team together to our cause? The ways we could handle problems and obstacles that inevitably arise? How eventually we revise plans in the face of setbacks or give our best no matter the odds?

Although we need to understand how we lead in order to succeed, there is absolutely no PERFECT leadership style. This implies that irrespective of how you lead, anyone can become a highly effective leader in his right.

One of the key things you need to do as you evolve as a person of value and influence is to discover what your leadership style is. So that you can begin to build the necessary skills required to make you an effective leader. To understand your leadership style, stay back.

Basically, most leaders use the combination of these 5 established leadership styles. And they achieve great results from it.

The Autocratic Leadership style

This is also referred to as dictatorship as the leader makes decisions alone without the input of others. It possesses total authority and imposes their will on team members.

They are highly result-oriented. As they maintain a considerable social distance from members of the team. These members, in turn, are largely motivated by the fear of punishment.

Hence, care only about the task to be accomplished and not about the well-being of team members. This leadership style is beneficial to employees who require close supervision and are inexperienced.

The Laissez-Faire Leadership style

The laissez-faire leadership style is characterized by lack of direct supervision of subordinates. A laissez-faire leader fails to provide regular feedback to those under his supervision.

If this is employed, it consistently hampers the productivity of subordinates who cannot work without supervision. Therefore, it requires having highly experienced and trained employees requiring little supervision as their subordinates for them to succeed.

The Transformational Leadership style

The transformational leadership style is often associated with charisma, inspiration and high levels of communication. A transformational Leader motivates his subordinates and improves their productivity.

This, in turn, increases their efficiency through communication and high visibility. He or She viciously communicates a vision and then motivates subordinates to pursue it.

The Democratic Leadership style

Quite democratic in nature and often referred to as the participative leadership style. Hence, it encourages the input of team members and subordinates. Even though, the responsibility of making the final decision still lies with the leader.

Participative leadership increases the sense of belonging of the employees. And makes them put in their innovative cap because they make contributions to the decision-making process.

When an organization is thinking about making changes within, this is highly encouraged. It helps everyone to easily accept changes because they played a role in the process. However, when there is a need for a quick decision-making, this possesses a challenge.

Transactional Leadership style

The transactional leadership style makes use of the reward and punishment system based on performance result.

The team members and their leader together set predetermined goals together. This leader has the autonomy of reviewing results. And rewarding team members accordingly.

How to Identify Your Leadership Style

Identifying your leadership style starts with understanding yourself. Below are three questions you should answer to know yourself better.

Whatare my values?

Most leaders have a deep connection with their core values. Because your personal choices are all guided by your most deeply held values. In return, these form the foundation of your personal leadership style.

Thus making easier in recognizing the type of a leader you are.

What are my personality traits?

It does not matter what category we fit into; whether we are the agreeable type or energetic type. Everyone can be a leader. However, our leadership style will naturally stem from our personality traits.

To understand how we lead, we need to take time to learn more about our personality traits. You can take a well-administered online personality assessments test or get help through coaching programs.

What are my Strengths and weaknesses?

The knowledge of this help in digesting your particular leadership style. In fact, you learn how to strike a balance between your strengths and weaknesses.

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Thank you for this post Sekinat!
I do believe our leadership styles can also be based on circumstances/ situations we find ourselves in. It might be possible to exhibit different styles, however, one would be dominant.
I might be wrong though…

You are absolutely right. In fact, it’s quite possible for an individual to show all the leadership styles identified above but still there will be one that would still stand out.
Because the dominant one will subconsciously reflect in most of the situation you find yourself.
Thank you 💞🙈